The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that records a televised program to a disk-shaped recording medium such as a DVD.
Conventionally, recording apparatuses that receive televised programs and record the received programs to disk-shaped recording media such as DVD (digital versatile disk), HD (hard disk), or the like are in widespread use. With this type of recording apparatus, programs recorded to recording media are divided into chapters. The start of each chapter can be directly specified as a position for skipping to (skip position) during playback. In other words, the user is able to skip the playback position to the start of any chapter with a simple operation during playback of programs recorded on recording media. Conventional recording apparatuses record programs to disk-shaped recording media while marking chapters at predetermined time intervals of 10 or 15 minutes, for example.
Given that most television stations broadcast programs with commercial messages (hereinafter, “CMs”) inserted in the main program, JP 2000-354225A proposes a recording apparatus that does not record CMs inserted in the main program to the recording medium, but does record positions where there is a switch from CM to main program to the recording medium as the start of chapters. With this recording apparatus, recording media can be used effectively since CMs inserted in the main program are not recorded to the recording media. Also, because CMs are not recorded to recording media as noted above, the main program can be played continuously without needing to perform operations such as fast-forwarding CMs during playback. Scenes in a program often change before and after CMs, making these positions suitable as chapter breaks for the user to specify as skip positions during playback.
JP 2000-354225A also discloses that CMs inserted in the main program may be recorded to the recording medium. In this case as well, CM skipping can be performed during playback with a simple operation, by recording positions where there is a switch from CM to main program to the recording medium as the start of chapters.
However, the apparatus disclosed in JP 2000-354225A is based on the idea that all CMs inserted in the main program are of no value to the user. Thus, even if the CMs inserted in the main program includes those that are of value to the user, those CMs are not recorded to the recording medium. Consequently, the user is not able to watch CMs that are of value to him or her, and cannot obtain information from those CMs.
On the other hand, if the method is adopted whereby CMs inserted in the main program are recorded to the recording medium, the user is able to watch CMs that are of value to him or her and obtain information from these CMs by playing the recorded CMs. However, only some rather than all of the plurality of CMs recorded on the recording medium will be of value to the user. Also, CMs of value to the user may not be among the plurality of CMs recorded on the recording medium. The user is unable to judge whether CMs of value to him or her have been recorded before playing the program. Consequently, the user does not know whether CMs of value to him or her have been recorded unless he or she checks the recorded CMs one at a time.
Conventional apparatuses were not able to skip CMs one at a time with a simple operation. Thus, the user had to repeatedly perform operations related to fast-forwarding and rewinding to check CMs recorded on the recording medium. Consequently, user operability was poor when checking whether CMs of value to the user had been recorded.
An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus capable of skipping CMs inserted in the main program recorded on a recording medium one at a time with a simple operation during playback.